Finally, a Neural Network Can Turn a Bunch of Sheep Into Some Decent Giraffes

Using machine learning to swap out one image for another isn't new, but ask these systems to do something a bit more complicated than a basic faceswap, and you can end up with underwhelming or laughable results. Now, researchers say they have developed a technique that produces far more convincing images for complex tasks, such as swapping out skirts for pants, cups for bottles, or a herd of sheep for a mess of giraffes. Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and the Pohang University of Science and Technology say their technique, InstaGan, stands out for its ability to tackle changes in shape and altering multiple image elements at once. The method, based on generative adversarial networks (GANs), processes instance information, such as the ability to identify objects and boundaries in images. In their paper, the researchers write that they think they are the first to develop such a technique on more complex images "to the best of our knowledge."